embracing my inner Frida

Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?

Frida Kahlo

I started out with the thought of just doing her face and the iconic eyebrows, but afters hours of pouring over her pictures, again, and just immersing myself into her art and lifestyle, I just let go. I embraced my inner Frida.

I was influenced by this painting of hers: The Wounded Deer

But instead of grounding her image in the pain and suffering that she experienced over her lifetime, I morphed her spirit into a free flying bird. Free of the pain, free to go and do what she wanted without any constraints.

"Later in her life, Kahlo was interested in ancient Eastern religions and mysticism, and The Little Deer is an assimilation of her Mexican and European heritage with these ancient beliefs. The image is of Kahlo’s head placed on top of a stag, which is pierced with arrows. The arrows no doubt refer to her own pain and suffering due to her injuries, as well as her injurious marriage to Diego Rivera. At the bottom of the painting, Kahlo has written “carma,” alluding to these ancient mystic beliefs. She also combines the eastern belief system with Aztec. An ancient Aztec symbol, the deer symbolized the right foot, and in this she was alluding to her injured right side, the foot of which had been crushed in a bus accident, and right leg being fractured in eleven different places. One year before her death, her right leg was amputated up to her right knee, due to complications from gangrene."
WikiArt.org 

entering this in 
Art Journal Journey - Frida

Remembering 9-11-01

This is my journal page after I had gently ripped off some netting that I had glued down with my Helmar Collage Paste. After removing the netting I was left with some very textured surface which I then covered over with the left over paint from my brayer. I always keep my journal open to pages that I had messed up when I am playing with my gelli plate, so no paint gets wasted!

Sometimes from mistakes, you get cool textures. Both pages pretty much had the same overall effect of leftover collage paste, glitter and netting imprint. I REALLY liked it and never would have been able to achieve this effect if I had wanted to....even if I had tried really hard! lol

So these pages were left open while I made my Gelli prints, rolling the left over paint that was on the brayer onto the pages. After I made my prints, I was then left with this mess on my Gelli plate:

One of the easiest ways to clean off a dried Gelli plate is by removing the paint with packing tape. Lay it across your plate, rub it, and pull it off to reveal an almost perfectly clean plate.

Of course, then you have all these lovely translucent strips of tape to play with so I did what any creative person would do....used them! I adhered them onto the journal with my Helmars Decoupage Paste and I really liked how they looked. They are the same colors but more intense looking when over laid across the painted pages of the journal book. You can see where I marked them to be cut so I would have an even border around them leaving the texture visible.

I used my Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste to adhere the strips of painted packing tape to the page. Once that was done I used Sharpie marker to sketch out a skyline and the Statue of Liberty onto the packing tape for my layout design.

Over on the Helmar blog today I made stencils for Gelli printing by using the Foam Glue. I hope you hop over there and check it out, so much better than using a hot glue gun!

Historic Johnson Farm

My second short story is up over on the Rapid River Art & Culture Magazine and it just thrills me to be published, especially considering that I am no writer by any means. If you have a moment to click on the link and read it, it's appreciated by both me and my editor. :)

I have been trying to work on my water coloring which has been fun doing but definitely has a learning curve. The art of Plein Air also has a learning curve, one aspect is carrying your equipment out to the site which is expressed in the story itself. And writing a story to be published is yet another learning curve.
Dang, there are so many curves I'm surprised I can walk a straight line anymore! Or am I weaving, and I just don't know?
lol

Gag gift

A little teaser for you, can you guess what this is on? Check out my post today over on the {my sweet earth} blog to see my gift idea for the person who has everything but will always need this!!

Sundays with Sandee - Fairy Easy

Why is she so easy to do? Hop on over to the Frosted Design's blog to find out on my Sundays with Sandee video!

vote?

OK, I've entered yet another "popularity contest and I wonder why I do this to myself since I don't have an abundance of "friends". Trust me, I am not one of those people who go around and "friend" everyone on Face Book, I am choosy! lol Which works great in keeping a wonderful support group, but works against me in situations like this. So if you want, please go VOTE for me...you are appreciated and thank you!

selfie discovery

This is what I learned today about myself artistic wise. 

It is much easier to draw a selfie from a photograph.

 It is harder to draw while looking in a mirror.

Throwing myself under the bus and into Simon Says Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Inktense Blocks
Micron

Helmar Design Team call

Helmar Design Team Call 2014/15

Helmar is a recognized leader of adhesives and aerosols in the Arts and Crafts industry and we are looking for new design team members to promote our amazing products. If you’d like to be a part of one of the most creative and easy going design teams out there, while showcasing Helmar products and your talent, this call is for you!!!

We are looking for dedicated creative design team members who work well with deadlines and guidelines. Designer positions on the Helmar Design Team are for a 6 month term beginning October 1st, 2014.

As a member of the Helmar Design Team you will…

1)      Receive a generous amount of Helmar products

2)      Endorsement fees for published layouts and tradeshow projects (subject to terms and conditions)

3)      The possibility of a selection of products from our generous Preferred Partners throughout your term.

Now what does it take to be a part of the Helmar Team? Here are your responsibilities

1)      1-2 projects per month consisting of posts on the Helmar blog, your personal blog and sharing on Facebook.

2)      Keeping your personal blog and Facebook page up to date and linking and promoting Helmar products at every opportunity.

If you are interested in being part of the Helmar Design team,

please email the following information to khitchen@helmar.com.au

1)      Name, address, daytime/evening phone number and email address.

2)      Short biography

3)      Links to your online galleries, blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages.

4)      A List other design teams you are now on or have previously been on.

5)      A brief paragraph letting us know why you would like to be a part of the Helmar Design Team.

6)      Two examples that will best showcase your work. Please ensure file sizes are not overly large or small, nothing over 1mb. Examples could be your Papercrafts, altered art, mixed media, craft projects, kid’s projects, home décor, etc.) Make sure to list any special techniques you’ve used using adhesives.

Please submit your application to khitchen@helmar.com.au by Friday 12^th September 2014.

No late submissions will be accepted.

The new Helmar Design Team will be announced by the 26^th of September, 2014

** At this time we are only accepting applications from Australia, Canada and United States.

- See more at: http://helmarusa.typepad.com/blog/2014/08/helmar-design-team-call-201415.html#sthash.Uc5rpjet.dpuf

Gnomey in disguise

Playing along with the Unity {be inspired} Challenge and I chose the color portion of the challenge. Love Halloween colors and it's right around the corner too...eeks!

I love my What's Up Gnomey stamps and just can't get enough of this cute little guy! I mean, seriously, he is adorable!

So I dressed him up for Halloween!

I also used the sentiment "smile" from the Insta-Cute stamp set.

Don't forget, we have an awesome contest going over on the {my sweet earth} blog. Real easy to play along!

oodles of doodles

Days during the last part of summer can get busy but it is still important to schedule some “CREATIVE” time for yourself. And the easiest and most fun way to do that is by doodling! Have you doodled lately? ( wink wink )

I hope you have a moment to go over to the {my sweet earth} blog and check out my doodled tag :) Love you oodles if you leave me a comment!!

Rainy Daydreams

The image and the journaling don't have anything to do with one another, just 2 random thoughts that came together. I was surfing Pinterest and found a site that listed famous people who used journals and I found that to be interesting and my journal was sitting beside me so I wrote the list out.

Andy Warhol,

 Guillermo Del Toro,

 Claude Monet,

Pablo Picasso, 

Vincent van Gogh, 

John Lennon,

 Frida Kahlo,

 Marc Chagall,

 Tim Burton,

 Henri Matisse

And on a lark, I added my name too.

Then I searched my photos that I keep as sketch fodder and found one I had taken of an elderly couple out walking the gardens at the Arboretum during a shower.

I thought I was done at this point, but evidently I wasn't . How many times have you gone back to a sketch and added just a little something more? It's like I couldn't stop myself, but here is the finished version...I think...maybe.

Sundays with Sandee - Deco Art Magic

All the paints on this are Deco Art Products. A descriptions of colors and types of specialty paints are as follows:

To create the background on this piece I first brayered Americana Bahama Blue, Whispering Turquoise, and White Birch in multi-surface satin onto the surface trying not to over blend.

The hair was created by combining Americana Camel, Marigold and Muted Gold multi-surface satin finish acrylics along with Paper effects Metallic Copper. I really like how the flat and satin work together and the Paper Effects really accents it well..

The same colors were used for the skin tones, adding red chalk for shading and Soft Jade Multi-Surface satin and a light layer of Limelight Glamour Dust for the eyes.

Writing with Paper Effects is so easy and I really like to take advantage of the little tip applicator to get different widths. The applicator tip was used when out lining the letters for a fine accent, and the tip was removed for bringing out the word "believe" for a bolder thickness.

The video of me creating the hand and the fairy is up on the Frosted Designs blog if you would like to see it.

entering this canvas in:
Paint Party Friday week 22

all we have are moments...

The butterfly counts not months but moments,

and has time enough.

Rabindranath Tagore

A little journal I created over on the Helmar blog, I hope you have a moment to go over there and check it out. ♥

Deco Arts Media Line

I loved working with the Deco Arts Media Line! 

12x36" - "Owls" is comprised of these Deco Arts products: 

Interference - Magenta and Turquoise

Antiquing Cream - Carbon Black

Fluid Acrylics - Carbon Black, Primary Cyan, Primary Yellow, Burnt Umber

Mister - Primary Yellow and Primary Cyan

Crackle Paint - White

Day 1

One of the products that I couldn't wait to try out was the Interference Paint. I first had to find out exactly what that was though. Interference paints create a translucent shimmer. The color isn't from pigment added, it comes from the thickness of the actual pigment particle and how the light moves through it. Some light passes through it and some reflects back. When you look at the moon you get a definite glow, seen in this picture on the left side where the light was reflecting off. Isn't this an awesome effect?

Interference Paint

I painted in the moon with my Primary Yellow Fluid Acrylic first and let it dry. Then I mixed together together the Turquoise Interference paint with a plastic art spatula and a gloss gel medium. You must use a gloss medium because a matte medium will ruin the effect of the Interference paints. Since I used the Interference on top of a light color, my effect is very subtle, which is what I wanted. I added the Magenta color last to create a layered shimmer.

Crackle Paint

While the moon section was drying I painted in the tree with the Burnt Umber Fluid Acrylic and once it was dried I covered it with the White Crackle Paint. I used a small flat brush for this part as I wanted the brush strokes to show and give me even more "bark like" texture when combined with the cracks.

Day 2

 Loving all those tiny cracks and the way the crush strokes show up. Now the fun can begin! I watered down the Burnt Umber and spread the paint over the crackle paint, leaving some areas thicker than others for even more texture.

Antiquing Cream

To get the inky blue "night" background, paint a layer of the Carbon Black Antiquing Cream over the top of your Primary Cyan. It can be a bit scary at this point, thinking you have covered up everything but relax, it's all good!

The directions say to rub off the Antiquing Cream with a soft damp cloth but I used a paper towel and it worked beautifully. I just LOVE how the Carbon Black stayed in all the nooks and crannies of the canvas letting the Primary Cyan come out! It's a beautiful multi-toned night background, much better than a flat texture.

You can also remove all the Antiquing Cream by spritzing water over it, letting it sit for a minute and then blotting up the water which will remove the Antiquing Cream giving you yet a third layer of dimension! LOVE!

Misters

What fun and what a joy to be able to mist over layers of acrylic paints! The colors stay vibrant and can also be layered over each other. 

This completes day 2.

Day 3

I paper pieced an owl out of magazine papers. A lot of fun but a lot of work too having to use tweezers to place all the tiny paper pieces together.

There are so many more products in the Deco Arts Media Line, and I can't wait to play with them all! I hope my canvas encourages you to give them a try and experiment and see what you can do with them. I am sure Deco Arts would love to see what you come up with!